->''Wheels on fire, rolling down the road...\\Let's notify my next of kin, this wheel shall explode...''-->-- '''Theme tune (Music/TheBand)'''

''Absolutely Fabulous'' is a British comedy series about the misadventures of Edina Monsoon (writer Creator/JenniferSaunders) and Patsy Stone (Creator/JoannaLumley); two alcoholic [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist party girls]] who are so far over the hill they've crossed the valley and started up the next hill. Other major characters include Edina's elderly scatter-brained mother (June Whitfield), her level-headed and long-suffering daughter Saffron (JuliaSawalha), and {{Cloudcuckoolander}} secretary Bubble (JaneHorrocks).

The series aired from 1992-1996, and then again from 2001-2005, with a few "20th Anniversary" specials airing in 2012. In 2013, Saunders was reported to be working on [[TheMovie a movie]], which was indeed released in July 2016. It has won both Emmy and BAFTA awards.

It featured large amounts of crude humor, slapstick, alcoholism and drug abuse. The plots generally centered around Edina's attempts to jump onto the latest trend or to have a good time, Patsy egging her on and encouraging her bad behavior, and Saffron's futile efforts to rein in the insanity and keep her mother on the straight and narrow.

Due to Edina's (oft-neglected) career in public relations, celebrity cameos were common in the show, with some (such as Lulu, Twiggy, and [[Music/SpiceGirls Emma Bunton]]) becoming recurring characters.

The show grew out of a sketch on ''Series/FrenchAndSaunders'', which featured [[WackyParentSeriousChild an obnoxious, partying mother and her sober, responsible daughter]]. This became the basis for Edina's and Saffron's characters.

Came 17th in ''Series/BritainsBestSitcom''.----!!''Absolutely Fabulous'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* AdamWesting: Pop Singer Lulu and actress Twiggy are Edina's only celebrity clients.* TheAlcoholic: Both Edina and Patsy. The two do ridiculous amounts of booze and drugs.* AlliterativeFamily By chance the main cast made up one of these: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield and Jane Horrocks.* AllJustADream: "Iso-Tank".* AntiRoleModel: Both Edina and Patsy.* AnticipatoryBreathSpray: Idris Elba appears in the episode "Sex" and uses one of these. Unfortunately it's supposed to be a [[RagingStiffie stiffening spray]].* AlwaysCamp: The vast majority of fashion people Edina and Patsy encounter in their careers.* AuthorAvatar: Ruby Wax would make occasional appearances as a high-powered fashion editor.* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: If Saffy is particularly upset, Edina will often attempt to comfort her, although usually hamfistedly. Saffy and Patsy are also shown to care for Edina.* BeehiveHairdo: Patsy's trademark look.* BewareTheNiceOnes: Mother may seem occasionally like a dotty English grandmum, but look out. For example, when Bo was dismissive of being 40, saying it's alright, Mother inquires about her turning 50, causing Bo to have a near heart attack.* BigApplesauce: A couple of episodes have Patsy and Edina visiting New York.* BilingualBonus: The punchline of one episode is that Patsy and Edina have been staying in a run-down French cottage when they were supposed to be in a fancy chateau. Three times during the episode a French man tries to explain this to them. Any audience members who speak French will have figured this out about 20 minutes before the characters do.* BlackComedy: Edina's treatment of Saffron constitutes full-on abuse at times and it's always PlayedForLaughs.* BlackComedyRape: In the episode "Morocco", Saffron being molested by a much older man is played completely for laughs. The same episode has Patsy saying one of the reasons one goes to the titular country is to have sex with underage boys.* BodyHorror: In Edina's nightmare about cosmetic surgery.* BrainyBrunette: Saffron.* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Inverted. Saffron is by far the most moral character on the show. Edina, on the other hand, is what happens when the Bratty Teenage Daughter grows up and has children of her own.** The series was at least partly born out of a French and Saunders sketch of this reversal.* BritishBrevity: On for eight years total, only 36 episodes.* BrokenPedestal: Patsy always looked up to her sister Jackie, who would push the limits of HardDrinkingPartyGirl further than even Patsy did. She is horrified to learn that Jackie is no longer one of these, and wants to start a home for stray cats and dogs.* BumblingSidekick: Bubble, who takes this to new heights of incompetence. Edina keeps her around only because Bubble makes her look good. In the newest episode "Job" Bubble tells the new intern she keeps her job not because of what she does not know, but because of what she DOES know.* BuxomIsBetter: The only thing Patsy approves of regarding Saffron is that the latter has "quite huge tits". Bubble is also jealous of Edina's "great, big, pendulous breasts", while [[DCupDistress they only serve as reminders to Edina that she's fat.]]* CampGay: Serge's boyfriend, Martin.* CatchPhrase: "Sweetie, darling."** And Patsy's curt, "Don't question me."** "Yeah, cheers"* CelebrityParadox: Both Patsy Stone and Joanna Lumley are Bond Girls.** The only "Bond" film Patsy's ever been in was ''Bond Meets Black Emmanuelle". Still counts as an [[ActorAllusion Actress Allusion]], though* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Bubble. Occasionally Gran as well.* CovertPervert: Saffron. In a [=SE2=] episode set in Morocco, a much older man offers to cover her "naked, nubile young body" in honey and goat's cheese and lick it off her, much to her disgust. Later in the episode, Saffron eyes up a handsome young waiter. At the end of the episode, she and the waiter exchange a look that suggested something might have happened between them, and a moment later Eddy asks her "What's that smell? What's that smell? Is that you, sweetie? That sort of honey, yoghurty smell? Is that you?" Saffron goes crimson with embarrassment and runs off.* CrossOver: Eddy and Patsy appeared in a Halloween-themed episode of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' that first aired in 1996. Eddy and Patsy meet Roseanne and Jackie at a high-profile cocktail party in New York. Upon hearing about Roseanne's multi-million dollar lottery winnings, Eddy wastes no time in becoming Roseanne's PR agent and talking her into funding a plan to clone Jackie Kennedy using the method from Jurassic Park. ItMakesSenseInContext...** The context by the way, was the fact that Roseanne had (at the time the episode aired) acquired the rights to produce an American version of the show. This also makes the episode look like a PoorlyDisguisedPilot; looking like Roseanne flew over Jennifer and Joanna to play Eddy and Patsy to see if the show's humor would fly in America.** A flashback scene involves Patsy appearing as her supposed '70s self, which looks remarkably like Joanna Lumley's "Purdey" character from ''Series/TheNewAvengers''.* CrossesTheLineTwice: An in-universe example: Saffron writes a serious play based on her own life that's supposed to be a scathing attack on her mother's neglect, but instead becomes a hit comedy that everyone (including Edina) loves because the characters of Edina and Patsy are as ridiculous as their counterparts.** [[UpToEleven Taking it even further]], the Patsy character is [[RunningGag played by]] a DragQueen.* CulturalTranslation: The sitcom ''Series/{{Cybill}}'' was sort of an unofficial Americanized variation; an official remake never got past the pilot stage. ** Roseanne had the US remake rights for it for almost a decade but sat on them after ABC told her, point blank, that for them to consider a remake of the show airing on the network, all references to drugs would have to be nixed and that much of the humor bowdlerized. ** Also High Society, another attempt to adapt the show for US audience with Creator/MaryMcDonnell as a Edina-Expy and Jean Smart as a Patsy-Expy. * CuteButCacophonic: Bubble.* DeadpanSnarker: Saffron and Patsy, although most characters have their moments.* DeathGlare: Patsy has a death sneer. * DoomedNewClothes: Patsy's designer pantsuit in the episode ''Birthin''.* DragQueen: In the episode "Sex". ** Also, when Patsy goes to New York City, a group of drag queens mistake her for one.* DreamSequence: Edina has had a couple of these, especially when under anaesthesia for a minor surgery.** Almost the entirety of the episode "Iso Tank" is a dream sequence, as Edina has fallen asleep in her -- you guessed it -- iso tank.* DumbBlonde: Bubble. Became more and more so as the series went on.* EdibleThemeNaming: Both Edina and Claudia Bing have {{Cloudcuckoolander}} assistants; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_and_squeak Edina has Bubble, and Claudia has Squeak.]]* EmbarrassingFirstName: Patsy has a string of them.** To be exact: Eurydice Colette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais [[OddNameOut Patricia]] Cocteau Stone.** All the Myth/ClassicalMythology makes sense after seeing all the {{Flashback}}s about Patsy's mother.** Also, Eddie's real first name Edwina, which she changed to Edina to sound more exotic.* FacialHorror: After Patsy's face-lift.* FashionableEvil: If Patsy has a D&D-style CharacterAlignment, this is it. * FagHag: Edina claims that all her friends are gay. This isn't true. She is devastated to learn that Saffron ''isn't'' gay. Likewise she is disappointed that Serge isn't CampGay but StraightGay, and instead adopts Serge's campier boyfriend Martin, who is all too happy to have Edina as a hag.* FrothyMugsOfWater: Ginger ale is substituted for champagne. A gag reel however shows the side effects of using real wine over multiple takes...* FrozenFace: Happened to Eddy due to too much of a Botox-like injection.* GaussianGirl: In Patsy's fantasy of what she'll look like after her face-lift.* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Subverted in the 2011 Christmas episode with Sarah, having established she had been unable to visit Saffron in prison due to being sectioned (held for psychiatric care against her will) apparently due to schizophrenia, she makes jokes about prison sex causing Saffron to slap her. Sarah then runs away screaming "The voices have come back!"* TheGhost: Edina's son Serge for the majority of the series. Whenever some important event occurred he was always "taking lava samples in Sumatra," or some similar scientific activity to explain his absence. Finally showed up for the special "New York" in which it was revealed that he was actually working in a bookstore in New York City all the time, and that the rest of his family had conspired to keep this a secret from Edina.* GranolaGirl: Bo (played by Mo Gaffney).* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Patsy. Edina too, but she doesn't do as many drugs or go to as many parties as Patsy. Patsy's sister Jackie ''used'' to be one of these, and she is distraught that Jackie isn't one anymore.* HetIsEw: Of a sort. Edina wishes Saffron were a lesbian because it would make her ''far'' more interesting.* HeterosexualLifePartners: Edina and Patsy. Patsy in particular seems lost whenever they are apart.* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Saffron had one, which included being abandoned in the park, used to stub out cigarettes by Patsy, and more emotional neglect than seems humanly possible. Now that she's grown and still lives with her mother, she's undergoing a Hilariously Abusive Adulthood (though she has by now learned to fight back).** Edina's other child, Serge, didn't fare much better. He loved his books more than anything in the world...so Eddy and Patsy set them on fire because "We were cold".** Patsy had one as well. Her mother actively ''despised'' her, and the two were enemies right up until her death.** Edina's mother restricted Eddy's food intake, regularly made fat jokes at her expense, and openly favored Patsy when she and Edina were young. She was also clueless almost to the point of neglect at times.* HollywoodDressCode: Saffron dresses mostly in conservative cardigans, Patsy wears dark, fashionable clothes, and Edina usually resembles an LSD hallucination. Bubble's clothes defy explanation.** And Gran sometimes wears yellow rubber dishwashing gloves for no reason. * HomePornMovie: There's one shot with Patsy and Edina participating in an orgy back in the 60's. It mistakenly gets shown by Saffron in a school lecture hall instead of her own tape on genetics.* ImmuneToDrugs: Patsy should have died ''[[NoOneShouldSurviveThat years]]'' ago. Instead she seems [[NighInvulnerability functionally immortal]].* ImpairmentShot: Sometimes when a character is drunk or stoned.* InsistentTerminology: ** Saffron's daugter is named Jane. Edina refuses to call her granddaughter that and instead refers to her as Lola.** Whenever someone asks whether Edina's house was in Shepherd's Bush, Edina would come in and yell "Holland Park! Holland Park!". The two neighborhoods are next to each other, though.* ItsAllAboutMe: Edina is extremely self-centered. Even her PR clients abandon ship to [[SitcomArchNemesis Claudia Bing]] once they've had enough of her.-->'''Twiggy:''' You're one of the most selfish, thoughtless people I've ever met! It's always you, you, you. You orbit planet you! You're your own moon. You moon yourself.* JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites* LadyDrunk: And ''how''.* LadyLooksLikeADude: Patsy has been repeatedly mistaken for a crossdresser. The fact that she once lived as a man during the '70s may be a factor.* LanguageBarrier: The girls decide to check out a chateau in France only to be dropped off at a rustic cottage. They spend a week in miserable conditions with a strange man coming around constantly, speaking in French and scaring them. Saffy finally picks them up with Bubbles as the man comes by and Bubbles speaks French. She tells a stunned Patsy that the man is wondering why the girls are waiting in this crummy shack when the staff of the upscale chateau down the road has been waiting for them all week. Pats warns Bubbles to never mention this to anyone. * MagicalDefibrillator: In ''Cold Turkey'' a doctor not only uses one to restart Patsy's heart, but applies it on top of both her clothing and a blanket.* MaliciousMisnaming: Edina keeps calling Sarah "Titicaca".* MamaBear: When Edina finds out the professor flirting with Saffron is married and has four kids, she punches him in the face.* MustHaveNicotine: Patsy spends an episode secretly sticking nicotine patches on (non-smoker) Saffron, who spends the rest of the episode craving cigarettes and not knowing why.* MyBelovedSmother: The reason Serge moved out is because Edina was one of these. Quite literally, as she often would [[MarshmallowHell hold Serge so tightly to herself he would almost suffocate]].* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes * NewAgeRetroHippie: Edina, who will jump on any fad known to man, but is especially fond of anything that reminds her of her teenaged years in the '60s.* NotSoDifferent: In one episode, Edina and Saffron make the same snarky comment about Patsy in unison, then stare at each other in horror.* OlderThanTheyLook: An episode featured Patsy's estranged sister who claims to be the younger of the two. At the end of the episode she reveals that she is actually 72. Patsy is horrified: "Then how old does that make me?!" In the audio commentary for one episode, Jennifer Saunders theorizes that Patsy has so many chemicals in her body that she is somehow preserved like a mummy. Eddy lampshaded it in-show, too.-->'''Eddy:''' She's a testament to the power of prescription drugs!** The 2011 Christmas episode established that Patsy is well over 60, as she has thousands in back payments on her pension. The two went to school together because Patsy didn't start attending school until she was much older. * OnlySaneMan: Saffy is the only responsible person in her household. It always falls on her to clean up after Eddy and Patsy's antics, as well as the problems caused by [[CloudCuckooLander Bubble, Marshall, and Bo]]. * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Everyone is shocked and flabbergasted when ''Patsy'' (who lives on a diet of drugs and booze, and hasn't eaten since TheSeventies) actually asks for a little slice of turkey at Christmas. They pass it over in silence and watch as she actually eats it. Then promptly chokes.** And the episode where Patsy is found to have serious osteoporosis (related to the above diet), and only grasps how serious it's going to be when Saffron not only says she's going to take Patsy to the hospital - Saffron and Patsy do not get on well - but Saffron drinks some alcohol before setting off to stiffen her resolve, at which point Patsy is dumbstruck.* OutdatedOutfit: Everything Edina owns, although she is convinced it's the height of fashion.* PetTheDog: Eddy has a few moments, like when she buys Saffron a kitten to replace the one she lost years ago, or when she tries to comfort Saffron for feeling like a bad mother by telling her that "everything is [Edina's] fault, darling!"* RagingStiffie: Except what's stiff is someone's tongue.* RealSongThemeTune: "This Wheel's on Fire", which was purposely re-recorded by Julie Driscoll for the show. Later series has it performed by Debbie Harry of Music/{{Blondie}}. TheMovie has a cover by Music/KylieMinogue.* RichBitch: Edina may qualify, although she also tends to hate this sort of character.* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Edina. Her ex-husbands cut her off at one point when they find out she has been scamming them for years, and she fears becoming poor. But it turns out that even without them she's still wealthy -- Saffy just lets her think she'll be poor to teach her a lesson. Doesn't work.* RoadTripAcrossTheStreet: Edina and Patsy get into a car to go to a spa, which is only on the other side of the road.* RummageSaleReject: Edina. Much of what she wears is [[ShownTheirWork genuine designer clothing]], she just tends to pile it on thoughtlessly with no sense of proportion or restraint.* RunningGag: Edina falling out of her car. And down the stairs to the kitchen.* ScreamingAtSquick: Saffron and Edina run screaming to the other end of the kitchen when Patsy casually breaks her wrist. Their squick continues when she jabs herself with one of the syringes of whatever cocktail of drugs she always carries around in her purse.* ScreamingBirth: When Saffron finally gives birth to Jane.* SitcomArchnemesis: Claudia Bing for Edina.* SkywardScream: After getting locked out of a Stella [=McCartney=] shop because of being unable to figure out which way the door opens, Edina faces the sky, thrusts out her arms, and yells [[Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire "Stellaaaaaaaaa!"]]* SlapstickKnowsNoGender* TheSnarkKnight: Saffron, and how!* {{Spinoff}}: Almost. A series based on the popular recurring character Bo (girlfriend and later wife to Edina's ex-husband, Marshall) has been proposed on several occasions. Although new rumors surfaced occasionally, it never quite happened.* StraightGay: Edina's son, Serge. Much to her dismay, as she wanted him to turn out to be a CampGay.** Edina's ex-husband Justin also qualifies.* StudioAudience: Most episodes of the show were filmed in front of a live audience, save for the various scenes filmed on location. * SympathyForTheDevil: Patsy once spun a sob story about her miserable childhood to persuade Saffron to do her a favor. It worked and Patsy was quite smug, until Edina reminded her that the story was true.* TakeThat: Marshall and Bo's fraudulent televangelism is reminiscent of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and the PTL Club scandal.* ThemeNaming: A real life example - all five of the show's main cast members have had forenames beginning with the letter J. * ThemeTuneCameo: Edina gets a karaoke machine for her 40th birthday, and the episode ends with her and Patsy singing a duet of "Wheels on Fire".* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Marshall and Bo.* {{Troll}}: Gran often does this verbally. Since she's the epitome of matronly British granny, it's often a shock.* TropaholicsAnonymous: Saffron sets up a Menopausals Anonymous meeting for Edina and Patsy. Naturally, neither want any part of it.* UltimateJobSecurity: Patsy got her job as the editor of a fashion magazine by sleeping with the publisher, and the position requires so little of her that she shows up there only a couple of times a year, and even then only to claim free clothes and other giveaways. It takes the magazine going out of business to dislodge her from it, and she immediately gets another job at a high-fashion store which requires even less work on her part, as it actively discourages customers.* TheUnfavourite: Edina seems at times to actively hate Saffron, while pining for her son Serge. Subverted when he finally makes an appearance and it turns out he may have had an even more HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood than Saffron, and fled to the other side of the globe to escape her, having the rest of the family lie about his whereabouts for years.* UnlimitedWardrobe: Edina has a seemingly endless series of fashion atrocities.* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Edina and Patsy.* VisitByDivorcedDad: Edina has two ex-husbands, and a child by each of them. Both became recurring characters and visited frequently.* WhamLine: Saffron announces "I'm pregnant!" to both Edina and her boyfriend John. Hilariously, they both act the same way, at first being very stunned then advising Saffron to tell people beforehand just so they won't think she's fat.* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Patsy, and ''how''. She thinks of herself as a model - when asked to model, she's horrified to learn she's supposed to represent a late middle-aged model (ranking just below one of the elderly models.)* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Edina wishes Saffron would drink, do drugs, and have tons of sex. Or, failing that, be gay. She gets a HopeSpot when she learns Serge ''is'' gay, but he turns out to be just as boring as Saffron.** She's startled and delighted when Saffron speaks fluent French. (Saffron points out that she put her in those classes in the ''first'' place - what did she think would happen?)* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: When Edina finds some alcoholic cider in Saffron's bag, Saffron says, "Look, don't be happy or pleased or anything!"